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Education in the USSRT
Education in the USSRT is free and provided for by the state, with classes being one of the official native languages of the respective province. There are no boys or girls schools in Tabi'atstan, as both sexes are almost always taught together, apart from in military training classes, where the curriculum can vary greatly. Starting from the formation of the USSRT, Tabi'atstani education emphasised applying learnt material from the classroom in real life situations, and practical work is a common feature in the Tabi'atstani education system, with excursions to various sites such as factories, museums, and other such places being common. In the 1950s, Tabi'atstani schools began to make major use of films in class, and in the late 2000s, computers were introduced to classrooms. Almost all schools have a cinema room, with most major educational institutions also having a computer laboratory. Overall, lesson times in Tabi'atstan range from four to six hours depending on whether a student is in a primary or secondary education institute. Tabi'atstani schools delegate responsibility for discipline to teachers, but teachers, students, and parents all play a part in running the school. Under Tabi'atstani law, corporal punishment in schools is a punishable criminal offence. Expulsion is rare, and only used in extremely difficult cases. Each school has student committees that participate in maintaining class discipline, organising school leisure activities, caring for disadvantaged students, and keeping school property in serviceable condition. Due to the fact that these committees have important responsibilities, membership is only open to older students. History The first modern Tabi'atstani universities opened in the 19th century, beginning with the University of Qal'eh Nezama in the Ardaristani Empire. The Ardaristani Empire maintained a monopoly on modern tertiary education in Tabi'atstan with the opening of the Bahaduran University of Fine Arts in 1881, the Qal'eh Nezama School of Political Sciences in 1882, and the Imperial Military College of Darakud in 1887, until the foundation of the Imperial College of Qal'eh Manar in Kazemostan. Current education system Primary education Tabi'atstani primary education consists of the six years of education after pre-school education. There is no single major exam taken by primary students in Tabi'atstan, although there are annual assessments of students' performance. Starting from the educational reforms of 2003, they no longer have any effect on a student's later educational career, and are recorded but not counted towards pupils' academic standing. Secondary education Secondary education in Tabi'atstan consists of the seven years of education after primary education. It is divided into two parts; junior and senior. Junior secondary consists of Years 7 to 9, whilst senior secondary consists of years 10 to 13. The distinction is rarely made by laypeople however, who mostly refer to the entire period of secondary education rather than one of the two specific sections. There are two major exams in this part of a student's educational career; the SMEA and the SHEE, taken at Year 11 and Year 13 respectively. At the end of Year 11, Tabi'atstani students take the State Middle Education Assessment (SMEA). Previously, the exam had focused on rote memory of facts, resulting in what is colloquially called "stuffed duck education". Reforms of this began in 2000 under the presidency of Yuri Pashenko, but was interrupted by the Second Tabi'atstani Civil War. As part of his campaign to address the grievances of the average citizen, President Louis Chan restarted the reform process of the SMEA in 2003. In the last year of their secondary school careers (Year 13), Tabi'atstani students take the State Higher Education Examination (SHEE), which functions as both a secondary school leaving qualification and an entrance exam for undergraduate higher education. The SHEE is divided into written and oral examinations. SHEE students are required to study six subjects, consisting of English, one other major language (normally either foreign or one of the three major languages spoken in Tabi'atstan), mathematics, and three electives. Three of the subjects were labelled "Advanced" whilst the others were labelled "Standard". Students are allowed to apply to study one extra subject, which they were allowed to choose to take at "Advanced" or "Standard" level. The SHEE written examinations consisted of one exam for each study, whilst the oral examinations focused only on the "Advanced" level subjects. Language subjects typically include their own oral assessments, although these are put under "Classroom Assessment", which is counted towards the SHEE grade but separate from the exams. Different subjects have different ratios of how much exams and classroom assessment contribute to the SHEE grade. Students of the SHEE can technically gain the SHEE qualification whilst failing some subjects, although this is quite rare. Higher education There are quotas in Tabi'atstan for people allowed to enter higher education institutes without exams (mostly military veterans or their children), but beginning in the 1980s, such quotas have been very low. As English is a required subject in the SHEE curriculum, most Tabi'atstani students leave secondary education with English proficiency at the native or near-native level. However, those who fail at SHEE English and wish to study at the tertiary level must take the Applied English Courses (AECs). There are two AECs; the Core AEC and the Subject Specific AEC. Students who achieve a grade above a certain threshold are exempt from the Core AEC, whilst all students who fail English at the SHEE level are required to take the Subject Specific AEC. In Tabi'atstan, dissertation panels typically cast their vote on a thesis defence using the system of blackballing. Aside from state run universities, there are also various religious universities in Tabi'atstan such as St. Francis University and the Jesuit Liberal Arts College. Extracurricular activities Beginning in the early 1950s, extracurricular activities of all kinds became readily available to Tabi'atstani students. Whilst more options were available to students in urban areas compared with those in rural areas, even schools in smaller cities were able to provide a wide variety of activities to their pupils. Almost all Tabi'atstani schools have choirs, and many also have orchestras. Militarism All Tabi'atstani boys and girls receive military training in their ninth and tenth grades as part of the national school curriculum, which is meant to prepare them for life as a conscript in the Tabi'atstani Revolutionary Army or other services in the armed forces. Military training replaces Physical Education, which is not taught after Year 8 unless a student specialises in Sports Science. The highest quality training facilities for this include a military office that serves as a classroom, a weapons room, a firing range, a drill field, an obstacle course, a sentry post, and an anti-radiation shelter. Most teachers in the military training course are either reserve officers or retired NCOs, although in the past there have been shortages of both, with some smaller schools lacking such qualified teachers due to their small student population. The military training curriculum covers 70 hours, and citizens who leave school are given the same training course in training points located in civilian factories. Boys are given more training in weapons and drill whilst girls are given more training in first aid, partly due to sexual stereotyping in Tabi'atstani society, in which women are more often given roles in the rear services rather than being put at the front to fight. Basic Military Training (hours) Category:Tabi'atstan Category:Education in Tabi'atstan